Emma Watson’s take on Beauty and the Beast:

Belle has always been smarter than the rest of her Disney princess counterpart. When Emma Watson was approached to play the part, she decided to take the character of Belle on a different level altogether. Watson made Belle wear pants and not dresses; she made Belle ride a horse and portrayed her as a scientist and not a vain dreamer. Prima facie the changes do not appear to be revolutionary but when you think about the kind of effect fairy tales have on children, it is a huge step forward. Princesses are capable of doing much more than dozing off, remaining stuck in household chores, singing to birds and forever waiting for a Prince Charming. This Belle got it all; Beauty, Brains and the Beast.

Dancing & Skateboarding Burqa clad Saudi Women:

After I first saw the video and was happily impressed, I decided to look up for translation of lyrics of the song to which these amazing women were dancing. Part of the song literally translated to:

“May all men be erased as they’ve given us mental illness” and
“Every single one of them has a devil inside them”

Now I myself have had my share of mental illness at the hand of men and am often accused of indulging in bitter diatribe targeted on men; the crime I honestly confess to and enjoy at the same time. But this instance of Burqa clad dancing women is the kind of courage we fortunate enough to live in comparatively liberal society can only dream of possessing. In a country where driving for women is a criminal offence, Skateboard under my Burqa is nothing less than a revolution. Take a bow my dancing, skateboarding, basket ball playing and burqa wearing queens.

Sania Mirza’s take on Baby Pressure:

This girl deserves a collective Thank You from all the above 30 childless women of India. When a leading news anchor asked her, like an overly concerned distant relative “ when are you planning to settle down” (as in make babies); Sania literally tore the man apart with her counter question of How many grand slam titles does it take for a woman to tell the world that she is finally “Settled Down”. If only people stay out of other people’s uterus; the world would be so much better and so much fairer.

For a distant future, I wish there would come a day when there would be normalcy surrounding womanhood. When I talk about normalcy; I mean there should neither be hatred nor bling surrounding woman. Such normalcy is the ultimate objective for most of us women. A time should come when there is no misogyny; that will be the time when no celebration shall be needed. As long as there are people who keep telling women what to shave, what to show and what to wear; we will need women who burn their bras in full public view.

In order to balance out suppression, Celebration is needed, the kind of celebration which is in form of a loud roar, in our face and dances on a skateboard.